| I spoke with Ashwin Madia's new campaign manager, Jonathan Murray, over the weekend. A fellow Marine, Murray comes to the Madia campaign from an unsuccessful effort in a four-way primary in Pennsylvania and a highly contested state senate race in Virginia.
Murray called Madia a dream candidate for this race -- with a wide grassroots network already in place from his successful endorsement campaign, a great understanding of the mechanics of successful campaigns, and a great stump presence, Murray called Madia's package a perfect matchup against Erik Paulsen.
If you Google Murray's name, the most relevant results touch on that Virginia state senate race, in which Murray worked for Democrat Janet Oleszek. I asked him what what went wrong on that campaign, given the general impression in the blogosphere that it was an eminently winnable campaign. Unfortunately, he couldn't say too much on the record, but did note the damaging effects of a poor review from the Washington Post editorial board and a strong effort from incumbent Ken Cuccinelli, especially when it came to negative advertising against Oleszek.
But going forward, it sounds like Murray has the right idea for this race -- raise a lot of money to even the playing field with Erik Paulsen, grow the grassroots network Madia already has in place, knock on billions of doors, get Ashwin Madia's name and story into the hearts and minds of third-district voters early, and kick butt in the head-to-head debate formats in which Madia excels.
With the full support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, its Red-to-Blue program, and growing interest in this race from across the country, I think it's safe to say we should watch for Q2 to be a very interesting one in terms of fundraising and media strategy for Ash Madia's campaign. |
